Montgomery Soil and Water Conservation District

Helping People and Communities Care for Land and Water

Montgomery County, Ohio

Conservation Community News

• Wolf Creek Stream Team hosted its' third quarter meeting on Friday, September 7th, 6:30-8:00 P.M., at the District office, 10025 Amity Rd., Perry Township.   A potluck dinner was served.  The main topic of discussion was bacterial testing that started in 2007. The group has been organized since 2002, and is involved in water quality issues in the Wolf Creek Watershed.  members receive free training in stream quality monitoring, volunteer support services, networking contacts in the local conservation community, and opportunities to educate the public about the importance of water quality.  Other administrative volunteer opportunities are available for those that do not necessarily want to be involved in stream monitoring.  For more information, see www.wolfcreekstreamteam.org
   

• Miami Valley Career Technology Center held its annual Sophomore Career Days on December 5th and 6th, 2006, at the campus on Hoke Road in Clayton.  Hundreds of students from nineteen high schools in the Miami Valley visited programs to explore potential career options.  As a community partner, Montgomery Soil and Water Conservation District (MSWCD) provides administrative support for the Environmental and Natural Resources Tech Prep program.  MSWCD thus encourages and supports young people to consider careers in conservation, also by sponsoring an annual scholarship.
   

• Brookville developer Tom McCoy is building ten new homes in a wooded area next to the new Brookville Schools campus.  Mr. McCoy is a conservation-minded person and had worked extensively to design lots and homes that preserved existing natural features, such as forest areas, while enhancing them with additional landscaping.  Partnering with the Miami Conservancy District (MCD) and EnvisionWorks, Inc., a local
  company that specializes in conservation design, McCoy Homes Inc. expanded the project to include low impact land use practices that reduce stormwater runoff and increase infiltration to the aquifer.  With funding from a Targeted Watershed Grant that MCD received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2004, each home will have a rain garden and a driveway made of pervious pavers.  These practices will reduce the amount of runoff that would have otherwise flowed to Brookville’s municipal storm sewer.  The runoff will now infiltrate through the pervious pavers and rain gardens into the ground, filtering out pollutants and replenishing the aquifer.  Montgomery Soil and Water Conservation District, in partnership with MCD are pleased to see the City of Brookville work with a local developer to begin implementing innovative land use practices.